Fatal crash follows stop in Bartlesville

Saturday

A search ended at nightfall in southwestern Colorado where a small private plane crashed Saturday afternoon, approximately three hours after departing Bartlesville Municipal Airport.

A search ended at nightfall in southwestern Colorado where a small private plane crashed Saturday afternoon, approximately three hours after departing Bartlesville Municipal Airport.

Rescue workers — including a dive team — searched the freezing waters at a state park reservoir south of Montrose, Colo., where the crash reportedly occurred around 2 p.m. No information had been released about any possible cause of the crash.

Late Saturday, searchers reported that they did not expect to find any survivors, although no victims had been recovered, according to information released by the Ouray County (Colo.) Emergency Management.

Officials say that five persons were believed to have been on board. No identities of those on board have been released at this time, pending notification of next of kin.

"There are believed to be no survivors, but no victims have been recovered as of this (Saturday) evening," stated a press statement issued by Colorado officials at the scene.

The reason for the plane to have stopped in Bartlesville was not immediately known. Montrose, Colo. was reported to be the destination of the flight, which originated Saturday morning from an airport in Gadsden, Ala.

A spokesman for the Bartlesville airport said local personnel are assisting with the investigation in every way possible.

"We are aware of the incident," said David Austin, senior analyst, Internal Communications, ConocoPhillips. "We are still gathering information. We’ll cooperate fully with the investigation."

According to information from the Federal Aviation Administration, the aircraft was a fixed-wing, single-engine 1996-model Socata TBM700. The plane had taken off around 8:30 a.m. CDT Saturday morning from Northeast Alabama Regional Airport. Following its arrival in Bartlesville at 11:01 a.m., the plane departed the Bartlesville airport shortly after noon and was expected to reach Montrose Regional Airport approximately three hours later.

Flight records show the aircraft registered to Gadsden Aviation LLC of Alabama. An FAA spokesman said the plane was headed from Bartlesville to Montrose when it apparently crashed into the Ridgway State Park Reservoir at a little before 2 p.m. MDT.

Media reports from Colorado indicated that debris from the aircraft had been recovered from the crash site, but that there had been no sign of the plane’s occupants. An online story posted by The Watch newspapers said an eyewitness, Steven Vining, reported that he saw the aircraft in a "flat dead spin" moments before hitting the frigid waters.

The Watch article — (http://www.watchnewspapers.com/view/full_story/24795469/article—Plane-Recovered-From-Ridgway-Reservoir—No-Information-About-Pilot-or-Five-Passengers-Onboard?instance=latest_story) — went on to say, "the plane was towed to the Ridgway State Park boat marina at about 6:15 p.m."

Radio traffic following the crash indicated that the aircraft crashed nose-down into the reservoir and then remained afloat. Witness Vining said it was snowing lightly when he and about 100 other members of a wedding party had first heard loud engine sounds that seemed to be coming from the clouds directly above them.

Vining said he could hear the engine power up and then wind down "over and over again." He said the plane finally emerged from the clouds and appeared to be out of control.

"I kept thinking that he would pull out of it," said Vining, adding that the plane disappeared from view and "three to four" seconds later, he heard a dull thud.

Montrose is about 180 miles southwest of Denver and 25 miles north of the crash scene.

The FAA and National Transportation Safety Board will be investigating the crash, with the NTSB serving as the lead agency.

Late news from the crash scene said rescue operations ceased for the night at approximately 7 p.m. MDT and that recovery operations would resume Sunday morning. The plane reportedly crashed about 90 feet from shore in water that was 60- to 90-feet deep, according to Ouray County Emergency Management (https://www.facebook.com/OurayCountyEM).

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